NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION

Jerry Bengtson returned to the Revolution lineup on Sunday, but had little impact on New Englandís 1-0 loss to Montreal.
Photo by Paulo Lopes

FOXBOROUGH, Mass.--The New England Revolutionís misfortunes continued on Sunday night as the expansion Montreal Impact (10-13-3, 33 points) sent the Revolution (6-12-5, 23 points) to their third straight loss, extending their winless streak to six games and putting them further off course for the postseason.

Sanna Nyassi, who scored the game-winner when Montreal defeated the Revolution 2-1 at Stade Saputo on July 18th, was once again the instrument of defeat, entering after intermission and delivering an unassisted goal just after the hour mark as the Impact triumphed 1-0 at Gillette Stadium.

The Gambian international and younger brother of New Englandís Sainey took the ball off Benny Feilhaberís feet in the Montreal end and then blazed box to box through the New England defense, turning A.J Soares around before firing into the roof of the net from just outside the eighteen-yard box.

The Revolution had reason to feel aggrieved by the final outcome, as they outshot Montreal 17-10, hit the woodwork twice in the first half, and failed to earn a penalty from referee Allen Chapman when Montrealís Dennis Iapichino clearly handled a ball in the box late in the match.

For the first half-hour, the Revolution abandoned their passing game in favor of a more direct style, with long balls over the Montreal defense seeking out their twin pillar strikers Jerry Bengston and Saer Sene, but the strategy yielded few dividends.

Following an opening six minutes of probing by both sides, Sene fired just wide from distance after Montrealís Patrice Bernier threw a rolling block at the legs of Feilhaber and drew an early yellow card from Chapman.

In final fifteen minutes of the half, New England rediscovered their attacking style and brought numbers forward, but were twice denied by the woodwork. In the 30th minute, Lee Nguyen, who spent much of the early going hour shouldered off the ball and knocked to the ground by Impact defenders, found a bit of space at the top of the box but his right-footed blast sailed just over the bar.

New Englandís best chance came in the 36th minute, when left back Chris Tierney cut inside and sent a toe-poke through traffic that rebounded off the far post into the grateful arms of goalkeeper Troy Perkins, recently acquired by Montreal in a trade with Portland for Donovan Ricketts.

The goal frame came to the visitorsí rescue again five minutes later when Nguyen found Sene free on the right and the crested Frenchmanís carefully delivered left-footed drive crashed off the crossbar.

The Revolution appeared to be establishing control of the match as the second half started until Feilhaberís turnover and Nyassiís moment of individual brilliance turned the match in the visitors' favor.

New England pressed forward after the goal, with Fernando Cardenas, Kelyn Rowe and Diego Fegundez entering as offensive substitutions, but they couldnít find an equalizer.

Sene failed to convert on a twisting open header off a Nguyen cross in the 70th minute, as Perkins was able to palm the effort over the line. On the ensuing corner kick, Perkins then saved Roweís header as it was heading toward the corner of the net.

In the 74th minute, Ryan Guy fired a shot from the right that struck Iapachinoís arm as the defender turned his body, but Chapman ignored the Revolutionís appeals for a penalty.

New England was nearly back to full strength for the match. Bengtson returned after missing four games while on Olympic duty and joined Sene at the top of a conventional 4-4-2, but the Honduran international appeared sluggish and had little impact on the match.

Kevin Alston and Soares were back in the line-up after each defender missed last Saturdayís game with hamstring problems.

The Sunday night match drew a crowd of 12,857, maintaining the Revolutionís league-low attendance figures, although a small but vocal platoon of traveling Impact supporters kept up a steady drumbeat across from the Fort in the southeast corner of the cavernous coliseum.